Friday, March 14, 2014

Catching Up With Mideau at SXSW

Before Libbie Linton and Spencer Harrison of Provo electro-pop duo Mideau played a show at Whisler's on Thursday night, they sat down with me to chat about how it's been playing at SXSW for the first time, as well as what's going on for the band. Mideau's latest EP, Way With Words, is now available on iTunes, and they're also gearing up for the national release of their self-titled debut album. ---

What has your first SXSW appearance been like?

Harrison: It’s been awesome.

Linton: It’s been fun. It’s kind of a wild setting to be playing a few shows. Lots of people lots of bands lots going on constantly, so it’s fun.

What has been your favorite part of SXSW?

Harrison: My favorite part is playing, for sure. It’s just fun to … actually perform music at a festival like this. I mean of course there’s thousands of bands, and so you feel like you’re kind of a drop in the ocean, but at the same time it’s a fun ocean to be a drop in. it’s fun to play. Last night we played here … and no matter what scale you’re on it’s fun to have people on the streets stop and perk their ears up and say, “What’s going on in that corner I should stop and listen.” So it’s fun. Everyone’s in listening mode around here.

Linton: Yeah, everyone’s here for music.

Harrison: So if you’re not interested to listen, you go home, you take a nap. But if you’re out, you’re ready to hear, so everyone’s ready to be won over, and that’s pretty fun.

Linton: And here to discover something new, which is a unique thing as well.

Harrison: That’s so much of what art is, it’s the timing, someone that’s open to hearing something or not. So it’s fun, it’s a good time. So of course playing that’s the most fun. And then being here with all of our Utah friends all the other bands, it’s fun to feel a part of that too. It’s cool to see that.

What's it like being a Utah band at SXSW?

Harrison: I hear there’s a lot of people who vouch that it’s way better to be sort of like king of your own state … than just be another Los Angeles or New York band. For us, we’re very proud to be repping Utah.

Has anything weird happened while you've been in Austin?

Linton: It’s just people watching. There’s just a lot of people and everybody’s got their own thing going on.

Harrison: There was a barefooted man that tried to bless Libbie along with every other woman in Kerby Lane Cafe at 2 in the morning.

Linton: He was very interested to touch every woman’s right shoulder, that was a little strange. There’s some characters. There’s a lot of odd people and everyone’s here to experience stuff, so they’re having fun in odd ways.

What's happening for Mideau in the near future?

Linton: We have a few more shows here, we play our official showcase tomorrow night and then we’ll head back to Utah. And then in April, we’ll go on a week-long tour supporting Katie Herzig, and we’ll be playing at some pretty cool venues—Boise, Boulder, Midwest and then Urban Lounge.